His Favorite Girl (10 page)

"There's a secret room no one knows about except
Clifton.  He's made a maze in the walls.  Mostly the air ducts.  There's a trap door in the room that goes down to Level B, then another to Level A.  Tomorrow I'll get a deadbolt or something to keep him out, but I don't think you have to worry about him.  I think he's too preoccupied with Kate right now."

"How do I get there?"

I was surprised at how receptive she was to this idea.

"Just climb in, facing left
, and crawl all the way to the fan.  On the right you'll find a vent.  It has a staircase for you to climb down.  There's a light switch on the wall to your left.  Just be careful.  I'll put the cover back on and move the desk back where it goes.  Then I'll go to my room and come meet you.  Okay?"

"Okay.  Thank you, Melissa."

I gave her a hug and she winced.

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"I'm okay," she said.  "You'll have to hand my books up to me, if you don't mind."

She crawled back up on the d
resser and into the vent, a much easier task for someone with such a tiny frame.  When she was all the way in, she backed up until she could see out.  I heaved the bag of books onto the dresser, climbed up, and stuffed it into the air duct ahead of her.

"Didn't think it would actually fit."

"That would be a deal breaker," Judy said.  "I'd die without books."

I'd poisoned the poor girl's mind with hope.  She was already cheering up, a bad omen around here.  In truth, this idea had a fatal flaw: eventually
Clifton would be back to his old self, wiggling through the walls to find someone new to torment.  Like my ownership of Flora, Judy's safety in the secret room had an indeterminate time limit.

But what other choice did we have?

"See you soon," Judy said.

She gave her backpack a push, scooted forward, pushed, scooted.  She looked like a worm.

Bookworm.

I smiled, and as though someone had pushed a button a wave of emotions w
ashed over me.  I cried as I fitted the cover on the vent, put in the screws, tightened them, but by the time I had the dresser back in its original place I felt nice and numb again, cold and calculating, the same self-righteous bitch I always saw when I looked in the mirror.

My natural condition.  Just like the Favorite Girls, I was created by cruel men.  Not in a lab, not in a test tube, but through years of undeserved mistreatment at a time in life that's supposed to be magical.  Early adulthood.  Newfound freedom, newfound love.

I was too young for the harshness of reality when I fell in love with Ted, and even that was a reality I would take back if I could.

This reality--Your Favorite Girl, Incorporated--was too harsh for anyone.

It needed to not exist.

When I got back to my room,
Liu was jumping up and down on the bed in her underwear, singing a pop song I didn't know.  Flora sat by herself on the couch.

I went to her.

"She took a bunch of shots," she said.

"Can you watch her for a few minutes?  I have to do something and I need you to keep her out of the shower room."

"Sure.  I don't think she'll follow you.  She's been saying really hateful things.  She said she's not even going to talk to you anymore."

"Best n
ews I've heard all day."

I went to the closet and picked out the largest of Kate's handbags and purses.  In the kitchen, I grabbed three bottles of water from the refrigerator, then a bag of chips, some granola bars, and a cluster of bananas.  I stuffed th
em all in the handbag and looked around for a moment longer, in case I was forgetting something.

My eyes stopped on the wine cooler.

Screw it.

I pulled out a bottle, stuffed it in the bag, added the corkscrew, and then rushed past Liu to the shower room.

Climbing onto the ledge, I suddenly felt the urge to pee.  It could wait, but I realized Judy would need toilet paper so I went to the stalls and took two rolls from the small storage closet.  I also grabbed a handful of small trash bags.

I
made quick work of getting into the vent and crawling to the secret room, where I was relieved to find the lights on.  I'd forgotten the flashlight and my fear of the dark never failed me.

Judy had already unpacked her books and was arranging them along the wall.
  I came down the steps, knelt beside her, and removed everything from the bag.

"Didn't know what you like to eat.  I can bring you anything you need tomorrow.  You'll have to pee in the bottles until I can get you something better."

I pulled out the toilet paper and trash bags.  Judy took one look at them and burst out laughing.

"Has it really come to this?" she asked.  "It's going to be so embarrassing."

"Everybody shits," I said.

"Yeah, but only dogs have someone carry it around in a bag."

That got me laughing too.

─
Another─

"FLORA IS making your famous brownies tonight."

The smile on his face made him look embarrassed.  I lay on his couch with my head
resting in his lap.  He was stroking my hair.  By the time I finished setting Judy up in the secret room, I was too exhausted to fight.

Right now I just needed affection.

"Bet you didn't know I'm a chef," he said.

I gazed up at him.  "I'll believe it when I see it."

"You hungry?"

"No.  Too tired."

I yawned as if to prove myself.

"You need to get some sleep tonight."

"I plan on it.  I hope Liu gets to move to another room.  She tries to get all up on me every night."

Patton laughed.  "Really?"

"Every freakin' night.  She's the horniest girl I've ever met--even more than Kate."

"I'll be talking to Sean about that tomorrow.  If there's an available room, I doubt he'll care."

"Good.  I can't take her anymore."

"She's a little childish."

"A little?"  I laughed mockingly.  "She throws a fit whenever she doesn't get what she wants."

"Oh, I know."

"You do, huh?"  I pinched his side to get his attention.  "She comes on to you at work, doesn't she?"

"Quite a bit, yes."

A beat of silence passed.

"And?"

"And what?" he said.

"How do you deal with that?"

He shrugged.  "Well, let's see."  He started rubbing my forehead with his thumb and I closed my eyes.  "Generally I fuck her in the ass while drinking my coffee and making her suck my finger."

My eyes opened again.  I shook my head, gritted my teeth.  "You mother fucker."

He burst out laughing as I punched wildly at his chest.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" he exclaimed.

I pinched him again, this time on the stomach.  "You
ever
touch that little bitch, I'll cut your dick off and keep it in a jar."

He snorted.  "Now you sound like Brian."

"Yeah, what's with all those . . .
things
he has on his shelves?"

"They're failed clone attempts."

"That's disgusting."

"I agree.  He thinks he's a mad scientist."

"He is!  I mean, he's obviously brilliant.  Nerdy fuck needed to get laid more as a teenager and he probably wouldn't be so evil."

"As a teenager, Brian was too busy performing autopsies on neighborhood pets to think about girls."

"Sick, Patton!"

"Well, it's true.  He was a weir
d kid."

"What about Mr. Shriver?"

"I never knew him to be a kid.  He was twenty years old when I was born.  We didn't even meet until he came back to work for our father."

He
started talking about his dad and I closed my eyes again, listening intently, absorbing the sound of his voice.  A strict, education-oriented upbringing, a father who valued violence as a child development tool.  Patton knew he was going to work for his father before he entered grade school.  I could tell he grew up afraid to defy his father, afraid to break away from his inheritance and forge a new path for himself.  The way he talked, such a decision might have even cost him his life.

"No wonder you people are so fucked up," I said when he was finished.  He didn't reply.  I'd hurt his feelings.  "Sorry.  It's been a really bad day."

"You ready to talk about earlier?" he asked.

"Are
you
ready is the question."

He sighed. 
"Let's have it.  Tell me what happened up there."

I wasn't sure where to start, but the most striking image forced its way to the forefront of my mind.

"He killed a Vampire Girl right in front of me.  Stabbed her in the chest."

"Jesus, Melissa.  I'm sorry."

"It gets worse.  He said Mr. Shriver wants him to clear out the 'old inventory.'  He's going to kill them all."  I turned over to face him, placing my elbow between his legs.  "And soon he's going to kill the girls, too. 
Your
girls.  Sean said--"

Patton sat forward, his eyes wide and panicky.  "He said that?  When?  I mean when is he going to do it?"

"I don't know.  Probably when Mr. Shriver gets back."

"No."

I moved quickly as Patton jumped to his feet.  He paced back and forth across the room, punching his palm, shaking his head, gritting his teeth.

He stopped suddenly and looked at me.  "If it comes to it I'll kill them all.  Mr. Shriver, Sean, his guards, Brian . . . even
Clifton.  I'll go down for murder, corruption, sex slavery, a million other things--it'll all fall on me--but they're not hurting my girls."

"Patton, they've
been
hurting your girls.  For fifty years."

The look on his face told me he knew that I knew.

"Fifty years," I repeated.

I stood and came over to him.  He shied away when I tried to raise the sleeve of his white t-shirt, but he brought his shoulder back slowly and let me expose the small scar on his upper bic
ep, just like the one on Flora's arm.

"You old fuck.  Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you wouldn't want me anymore."

"Well it
is
fucking creepy, but at least you've aged well."

A tear brimmed on his eyelid and spilled down his cheek.  He put his face in his hands and wept silently.  In this moment, he did look old.  A lifetime of regret with another hundred years to follow.

I dropped to my knees, unbuckled his belt, and pulled his pants and boxer shorts down to his ankles.  I kissed his thighs, brushing my face against his limp penis as I moved from one to the other.  I ran my hand around him and grabbed his ass, watching it swell, tickling him with my hair, and then finally gripping his balls and taking him in my mouth.

I sucked him for a moment, then pulled away.

"If you have any other secrets, now's the time to tell me.  You have until you come in my mouth.  If I find out you've kept anything else from me, we're through."

I recommenced aggressively, making him breath hard through his open mouth, only slowing down when he started talking.

"The girls," he said.  "All clones.  I'm the one who picked out the prototypes, the DNA sources.  I seduced them, took them to hotels, fucked them . . . drugged them . . . and collected what Brian needed."

I wanted to stop, but I also wanted to see if he had anything else to say.

"I didn't want to do it.  I had no choice.  I agreed only on the condition that I would get to care for the clones, raise them like my own daughters."

Even though you fucked the originals.

"Melissa," he said, taking a deep breath.  "The real Flora was named Melissa.  She was a runaway.  A little hippie girl.  I met her at a diner.  We spent a week together.  I took her to California.  I tried . . . to raise the Floras . . . to have her . . . personali--"

I felt a hot spatter hit the back of my mouth.

He was done.

I swallowed it and stood, still holding onto his cock.

"Is that it?" I asked.

He nodded.

"You're sure."

"Yes," he said.  "Melissa, I'm sorry."

"See me out please."

I waited by the door while he
pulled his pants up and buckled his belt, trying to decide how mad I was to learn this new information.  Part of me felt like an irrational girlfriend asked about my boyfriend's past lovers and then getting jealous.  After all, I did give him an ultimatum to come clean or lose me forever.

Still, the news was hard to take.

As we walked to the elevator, Patton asked about Judy.

"
She's fine I suppose.  She went back to her room."

"I'm working on a solution to her problem."

"Why don't you focus on Brian? 
He's
the problem."

"Part of the problem, yes, but Sean is a bigger obstacle, and Mr. Shriver's will is the ultimate dilemma."

We reached the elevator.  I turned to him.

"
You forgot about me," I said.

"Huh?"

"
I'm
part of the problem, too."

"What do you mean?"

I smirked and stepped on the elevator.  "You'll see tomorrow."

"Melissa, tell me!"

The doors closed and I rode to Level C feeling exhausted and in desperate need of some mouth wash.

When I opened the door to my room, the smell of brownies hit my nose and reenergized me enough that I was able to acknowledge my hunger.

Flora was setting a tray of them on the table.  She wore a white apron over a light blue dress.  A housewife from a fifties advertisement, only prettier.

Liu lay on the bed in nothing but panties, watching TV at high volume and stuffing her face with brownies, her feet kicking around wildly.  The perfect image of an attention whore.
  After meeting Kate, I never thought I'd encounter someone who liked being naked more.  The two of them would probably be best friends if Kate wasn't comatose.

I went to the table and grabbed a brownie.  Flora studied my face as I bit into it.

Amazing, just as she'd claimed.

"Wow, Flora!"

"I told you," she said.  "He's a great cook."

"
You're
a great cook.  You made them."

She shrugged, but I could tell she was proud of herself.

"It's still Patton's recipe," Liu yelled over the television.

"Turn that down!" I shot back.

"Make me!"

I was in no mood for this.  With a half-eaten brownie still in my hand, I stormed over to the bed, snatched up the remote, and turned off the TV.

"Turn it back on!" Liu demanded, sitting up and mean-mugging me.

"If you can't keep it down, you're not watching it at all."

"You're not the boss of me."

"The fuck I'm not.  This is my room."

"It's
Kate's
room.  You
poisoned
her."

"Who told you that?"

"None of your business."  She held out her hand palm up.

"Put some fucking clothes on," I said, turning to walk away.

Liu let out a frustrated growl.  I could hear her flopping around, throwing a fit.  Flora looked like she was trying not to laugh.  Liu's naked temper tantrum must have been a pretty funny sight.

"No wonder your husband cheated on you."

I turned and started back towards her.  "What did you say?"

She smiled and blinked.  "You heard me, dried up bitch.  It's only a matter of time before Patton fucks around, too, just like Ted."  She scooted back on the bed, still smiling but apprehensive.

"Melissa, no," Flora pleaded.

It was too late.  I jumped on the bed, wrapped both hands around her scrawny neck, the brownie smearing all over her and squeezing through my fingers
, and slammed her down on her back, choking her, then punching her three times on her pointy little nose.

Flora was screaming, begging me to stop, but I ignored her.  Liu's screams were of a different sort.  She sobbed uncontrollably, mouth wide open, blood gusting out of both nostrils.

I pinched her left nipple and squeezed hard, muting her cries to an infinitesimal squeal.

She wasn't fighting me.  She was just taking it.  I started to back off, suspecting this was a trap, that she'd provoked me to attack her for some greater purpose, but that just made me more furious, so I slapped her, then brought the back of my hand across her other cheek, then again.

Before the shift in the mattress registered in my mind, an arm came around my neck and started pulling me backwards.  I reached over my right shoulder, grabbed the arm with both hands, squeezed as hard as I could, and yanked while bending forward.

When she flipped over on top of Liu, I realized it was Flora.

"Oh my God, Flora, I'm so sorry!"

Flora rolled off of Liu and sat up slowly.  Tears streamed down her face and her mouth was slightly agape.  She took in a long, deep breath, let it out.  Then her eyes widened, mouth opened a little more.

"Flora, I-I'm sorry," I struggled to say.  "I didn't mean it.  I freaked out."

Liu cupped her nose and turned away from us.  Her whole body was flushed.  In our struggle her underwear had rolled down to the curve of her butt cheeks.  When I turned back to Flora, that's where she was looking: Liu's butt. 
She reached out and squeezed it, drew in a sharp breath.